A connector plug normally has a plug housing, which is composed of an insulating material and has at least one conductor connecting element arranged therein, and a plug contact which is connected to the conductor connecting element. The connector plug may in this case be in the form of a screw connecting terminal, on the plug housing of which a screw shaft is provided, via which a screw can be inserted into the interior of the plug housing. A base housing can be provided for fastening a connector plug such as this to a printed circuit board, which base housing is normally arranged via solder pins on the printed circuit board and has a plug location for plugging on the connector plug. Plug arrangements such as these are used primarily where direct-contact protection for the connector plug is desired on the printed circuit board.
In order to make a safe connection between the connector plug and the base housing, it is known for fastening devices to be provided which have a fastening means. Specific holding elements, for example in the form of openings, are generally provided for the fastening means on the connector plug and/or on the base housing, in which openings the fastening means engage in the fastened state, that is to say in the state when the connector plug is fastened to the base housing. On the one hand, this increases the design complexity of such plug arrangements and, furthermore, the fastening elements are in this case generally arranged on the connector plug and the base housing such that a user can access them only with difficulty, and their operation is therefore difficult. This makes it considerably more difficult to replace the fastening elements, which can generally be done only by means of additional tools. Since additional holding elements are required for fastening the fastening element, retrofitting of a plug arrangement with such fastening elements is generally impossible. Furthermore, such fastening means generally require a larger additional physical space, as a result of which the overall physical space required for the plug arrangement together with the fastening element can lead to major problems, in particular for installation in switchgear cabinets.
Consequently, there has been a long standing need for a fastening device for a plug which has a connector plug and a base housing, the plug arrangement being distinguished by a simple design, and which can be operated easily and replaced or retrofitted to existing plug arrangements at any time. These and other needs are addressed by various systems and methods as elucidated in the following description.